Woodlands and Pudsey St Lawrence snatched Premier Division victories from the jaws of defeat with crucial late partnerships.

Ninth wicket pair Cieran Garner (31no) and Alex Kaye (29no) came to the rescue for Woodlands as they added 59 from 68 balls to steer their side to a two-wicket victory over Methley.

For St Lawrence the match winners were the last wicket pairing of Chris Marsden (54no) and James Massheder (11no). They added 54 as they inflicted a second successive one-wicket defeat on second bottom Farsley.

The win for Woodlands keeps them five points behind leaders Jer Lane who defeated Pudsey Congs by nine runs. New Farnley are a further 10 points back after their 48-run win over Bradford & Bingley. Townville’s title push suffered a body blow as they suffered an 86-run defeat against Ossett.

For much of the afternoon fifth-place Methley were well placed to defeat Woodlands. After making 225 thanks to the efforts of Jared Warner (72), Taylor Cornall (57) and Alex Cree (33), they had the champions on the ropes at 168-8, but could not deliver the knockout blow as Garner and Kaye saw the champions home.

Skipper Brad Schmulian (5-67) and Muhammad Bilal (3-62) were the main wicket takers for Woodlands while Warner (4-41) was the pick of the Methley attack.

Farsley may well live to regret letting St Lawrence wriggle off the hook as they remain in the relegation positions with seven games to go.

Their total of 236 owed much to the efforts of opener Joe Pocklington who made 113 and Jonathan Read (54) who shared a fifth wicket stand of 114 with him.

Pocklington hit two sixes and 17 fours but when he holed out it sparked the loss of the last five wickets for 20 runs as Farsley were bowled out with eight balls of their innings remaining. Charlie Parker finished with 3-65.

Barrie Frankland top scored for St Lawrence against the club he used to captain but when he departed at 183-9, Farsley were hot favourites to win.

Marsden had other ideas. He struck two sixes and seven fours while Massheder offered solid support. Together they cashed in on Farsley’s growing nervousness and steered their side home with nine balls to spare.

Jer Lane were made to work hard for their nine-run win over bottom team Pudsey Congs. Overseas player Yohan Mendis (90) and Ashley Slater (58) put on 109 for the fifth wicket as Congs finished on 250-8 in response to Jer Lane’s 259-9. Yasir Ali was the key bowler for the leaders with 4-58.

Openers Mosun Hussain (75) and Adal Islam (55) got Jer Lane off to a great start with a stand of 123. Ali (43) and Cosmond Walters (30) built on their work as spinners Ryan Heptinstall (3-69) and Sam Wisniewski (3-84) posed the main threat.

Spinner Adam Ahmed produced his season-best figures of 5-41 as New Farnley bowled out Bradford & Bingley for 217 to complete a 48-run win. South African Louren Steenkamp – who made a century against New Farnley earlier in the season – top scored with 86 while Jacob Slator made 37.

New Farnley built their score of 266-7 around the contributions of Ryan McKendry (63), Alex Lilley (50), Fletcher Coutts (45) and Steve Bullen (42). Jack Hartley was the most successful bowler with 3-57.

Cleckheaton’s climb away from relegation stalled as they were bowled out for 65 in their 107-run defeat by Undercliffe. Zeeshan Qasim (5-19) and Calum Fletcher (5-46) shared the wickets.

Simon Lambert (42), Bailey Worcester (35) and Sharoon Siraj (33) were the main contributors to Undercliffe’s 172 as James Stansfield (4-28) and Max Chappell (3-44) enjoyed the most success with the ball.

In Division One, the clash between the division’s top two teams turned out to be a damp squib as leaders Carlton bowled out Baildon for just 52 as they romped to a six-wicket win at Jenny Lane.

Muhammad Tariq (4-34) and Umar Farooq (3-13) did much of the damage as Carlton took advantage of Baildon’s woeful batting.

Carlton didn’t have thing all their own way but eased home despite spinner Cameron Sharp taking 4-26. The result saw Carlton extend their lead to 29 points.

Hartshead Moor are now third after their emphatic 199-run win over Morley who are now hovering just 10 points above the relegation places.

Skipper Chris Wynd (64), Tim Bresnan (45) and Chris Swift (38) provided the foundation from which Australian Zane Keighran (84no) and Craig Field (37no) were able to add to the suffering of Morley’s bowlers with an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 124 which swelled their side’s total to 301-6. Sri Lankan Asel Sigera (4-79) was the best of the Morley bowlers.

Morley crumbled to 102 all out when they batted. Opening bowler James Rogers (5-36) and spinner Lewis Lomax (3-22) brought about their demise.

And in Division Two, Heckmondwike & Carlinghow recovered from 11-5 to defeat Scholes by four wickets and lift themselves off the bottom of the table.

Skipper Muhammad Shahnawaz had warned after his side’s victory in last Sunday’s Rigg Bash T20 Group B Cup final that they would soon start climbing the table but even his optimism may have been blunted by the collapse of his top order to Greg Keywood (4-29).

Sajid Azeem(62) and Qamar Shahzad (54no) transformed the outlook with a stand of 103 before Usman Quereshi (34no) completed the job of steering his side past the Scholes score of 168.

Scholes, who started the afternoon as leaders, collapsed to 28-4 when they batted first. Nawab Khan (3-66) and Shahnawaz (3-39) posed problems as Liam Thomas (58) made the only significant contribution.

The result enabled both Gomersal and Crossflatts to climb above Scholes at the top while Heckmondwike & Carlinghow leap-frogged Hopton Mills at the bottom.

Gomersal held their nerve to defeat Hunslet Nelson by eight runs. Overseas player Ali Shan (75) and Liam Fletcher (70) featured in a crucial second wicket stand of 105 as Gomersal made 194-4.

Tyler Woodhouse (36), Omar Aziz (34), Joe Smith (33) and Jack Scanlon (32)led the scoring as Nelson were dismissed for 186 by Richard Wear (4-32) and Chris Rhodes (4-48).

Crossflatts made the division’s highest score of 320-6 as they defeated lowly Northowram Fields by 131 runs.

Josh Brooksbank (71) and Tinashe Gomwe (46) provided early impetus before Dan Trowers (85no) and Sanjula Bandar (50) came together in a sixth wicket stand of 128. Sam Gardener was the most successful bowler with 4-67.

Northowram Fields were bowled out for 189 with Dominic Bennett (3-18) and Bandara (3-53) leading the way. Louis Cockburn (54), Farhan Hussain (43) and Sam Gardner (39) were the main contributors.

Keighley gave themselves more breathing space in the relegation battle with a welcome 22-run win at Buttershaw St Paul’s.